What a disgraceful (bastos) act!

The other night, the Liberal Party had a torch parade in our place, Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City. In so far as the barangay is concerned, it was a novelty of a campaign gimmickry and, to be candid about it, the effort somehow amused me. From my political perspective, the parade was clearly an attempt to shore up a perceptively dwindling number of supporters in a locality where it used to be unquestionably dominant.

Hon. Jun Lim, our barangay captain led the torch parade. Assuming the concept came from him, and that is a very generous assumption, I had to doff my hat to him. He has political brains, after all, to plan this clownish undertaking. You see, he is the same village chief whose miniscule, almost invisible, achievement in Kasambagan led me to describe him, in an earlier article, as grossly incompetent.

I came up with that embarrassing conclusion after comparing barangays Kasambagan and Basak. Our village is the home of big businesses (IPI, hotels like Castle Peak, City Park and Sarrosa, Aboitiz, and Country Club to name a few) and the residents there, except our humble family, belong to the upper and middle upper class of our society. In comparison, Basak, with no offense intended, is rather less economically privileged. But, despite this glaring financial difference, Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak, now a leading candidate for city council, could show an array of tangible accomplishments that our barangay, despite its huge resources, could only dream of.

Back to the torch parade. The marchers some of whom came from Panagdait (to rendezvous with those who were taken by bus from Univille) were supposed to culminate at the covered court to attend a political meeting. I learned that when the group neared the residence of Barangay Kagawad George Chang, the captain did something that civilized people would not approve of. Otherwise said, the chief, perhaps, borne by emotions which only the uneducated could not contain, performed a near disgraceful act. Sa binisaya pa, nagbinastos! He did not know that while some of his men chorused with him in Bacchanalian frenzy, the more decent ones disapproved of his misbehavior.

Can anyone ever countenance a barangay leader shouting to the top of his squeaking voice, on the road, and in the presence of many, expletives, at a man, equally prominent, being an elected official? This is what I gathered from reports.  Well, the chief and the councilor man belong to opposing political camps. That could explain their belligerence. However, espousing contending bets should not be enough reason for our captain, to point his finger in the direction of the house of our barangay kagawad and rouse his fellow marchers into a wild form of charivari. That act was more than just distasteful. It was, as I hinted above, uncivilized.

I am not a close friend of Kagawad Chang. His choosing not to go down to the gutter level of his captain and therefore act like a responsible elected official, that they both are, earned my respect. I could discern the gap of their sense of respectability. Kagawad Chang, on this dignity tableau, is notches above his captain and it should not be a surprise if they contest the chairmanship of the barangay in October.

Such BINASTOS has given a stamp of validity to a political decision we have recently made. People with whom I have discussed this issue, claim that this brute and boorish behavior of no less than a village chief, while apparently inborn and natural, is in fact, more reflective of the character of the candidate he is pushing. Shades of tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are.

We are therefore resting comfortable in our plan to come out of retirement, join the campaign, and reach out to our former political allies, these last remaining days, for Mayor Michael L. Rama, not only because he was my student in law, years ago, but more importantly, because, aside from his well chronicled accomplishments, he is the dignified contender, as highlighted by the boorish behavior of our captain who supports the other candidate.